Ayberk Ozkirli

Happy moment by Lake Geneva
Happy moment at the Illusion Museum (Paris)

Dr. Ayberk Ozkirli is a vision neuroscientist with a background in bioengineering (M.Sc. from EPFL, Switzerland) and electrical engineering (B.Sc. from Bilkent University, Turkey). He completed his PhD in Neuroscience at the Laboratory of Psychophysics in EPFL in 2025, under the supervision of Prof. Michael Herzog and Prof. David Pascucci. His PhD thesis, nominated for the EPFL Doctoral Program Thesis Distinction and the Brain-Mind Institute Prize, investigated how spatiotemporal context influences visual perception. His expertise spans neuroimaging, statistics, experimental design, neural data processing, and vision science. He has previously worked with both healthy and clinical populations, investigating visual receptive field properties and their relation to perception and visual perceptual learning using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Currently, Dr. Ozkirli continues his research under the Innosuisse grant at EPFL, in collaboration with Dandelion Science

Selected Publications

[1] Ozkirli, A., et al. Computational complexity as a potential limitation on brain–behaviour mapping. European Journal of Neuroscience (2025).
[2] Ozkirli, A., et al. Failure to replicate a superiority effect in crowding. Nature Communications (2025).
[3] Pascucci, D., Tanrikulu, O.D, Ozkirli, A., et al. Serial dependence in visual perception: A review. Journal of Vision (2023)
[4] Ensel, S., Uhrig, L., Ozkirli, A., et al. Transient brain activity dynamics discriminate levels of consciousness during anesthesia. Communications Biology (2024).

Selected Conference Talks

[1] Ozkirli, A., et al. Population receptive fields isolate or combine target and flankers in (un) crowding. Vision Sciences Society (VSS) Annual Meeting. Journal of Vision (2021)
[2] Ozkirli, A., et al. Is there a neural common factor for illusions? European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP) Annual Meeting. Perception (2023).
[3] Ozkirli, A. & Pascucci, D. Beyond the ideal observer: internal states of uncertainty modulate sequential biases in perceptual decisions. Vision Sciences Society (VSS) Annual Meeting. Journal of Vision (2023)

Alongside his academic career and strong passion for visual perception, he also has a deep interest in musical theatre and singing. During his PhD, he completed a certification program in musical theatre singing at the Conservatoire de Lausanne, passing the certification exam in 2024 with mention très bien (high distinction). Currently, he’s an organizer and singer of the SV Band at EPFL.